CNN Video Anderson Cooper Obama Experience vs Sarah Palin

http://www.bigmouthfrog.org/2008/09/02/cnn-video-anderson-cooper-obama-experience-vs-sarah-palin/

Gaza Phone Squad Supports Obama

http://patdollard.com/2008/09/gaza-phone-squad-supports-obama/

Stop Smearing Sarah Palin

http://stopsmearingsarah.blogspot.com/

Sarah Palin and Israel

Thomas Lifson

Supporters of Israel, already smarting from Barack Obama’s associations with Jeremiah Wright, Rashid Khalidi, and Zbigniew Brzezinski (among others), are beginning to breathe sighs of relief about Sarah Palin’s joining John McCain on the GOP ticket. She has been smeared as a Pat Buchannanite, to which the McCain campaign has responded:

Of the many smears against Governor Palin now being circulated by left-wing bloggers and amplified by the national media, only one seems to have been directly picked up by the Obama campaign and its surrogates–that Governor Palin was once a supporter of Pat Buchanan, and that she is therefore a Nazi sympathizer.

The first attack came from Obama surrogate Rep. Robert Wexler, the co-chair of Obama’s campaign in Florida. Wexler, badly mangling his facts, accused Governor Palin of supporting Pat Buchanan in the 2000 Alaska primary. Based on this he asserted that Governor Palin had “aligned herself with a leading anti-Israel voice in American politics,” while finding space to invoke the name of Adolph Hitler and the phrase “Nazi sympathizer.” Only it wasn’t true–Palin was an official on the Forbes campaign in 2000. Wexler never apologized or retracted his statement.

Then an official Obama spokesman picked up the charge in a statement to the Miami Herald:

“Palin was a supporter of [MSNBC analyst] Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer,” Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski wrote in an email.

Governor Palin has never supported Pat Buchanan and every responsible magazine or blog that made the charge has since corrected the record, leaving only the Obama campaign peddling this smear. How is it that the media, so committed to fighting the smears against the Obama campaign, is more than happy to allow this one to fester?

Would a Pat Buchannan supporter have a tiny Israeli flag in her office?

Eagle-eyed Doug Ross spotted an Israeli flag in her office, in a photo published last February by an Alaska blog titled, Hike of the Week Urban Hike with Sarah Palin

It is on the right hand side, next to the window:

Israpundit spotted the same Israeli flag in a video shot in her office, and what looks like a little lapel pin, too. There is actually a video available in Israpundit, but here is a still photo with helpful arrows added:

Note to moonbats: Governor Palin has full-size American and Alaskan flags in floor stands. Don’t start with the Israel-first nonsense. She is a woman who appears to understand the stakes and supports Israel because it is good for America and good for the world.

Well what about Joe Biden? Although formerly identified as a friend of Israel, Biden has recently given some disturbing signs, the Begin Center reports.

Hat tip: Mark Roth, Ed Lasky

 

Posted at 09:56 AM | Email | Permalink

Grace under Fire

Rick Moran
It is rare that we are witnesses to the kind of smear campaign launched against Sarah Palin by Democrats, the left, and the media. The shocking virulence with which the attack has been conducted takes one aback with its audacity and nauseating hypocrisy.

The goal of the other side is nothing less than forcing John Mccain to withdraw Palin’s name. Or failing that, making things so unpleasant for Palin that she asks to be let go. On both scores, the left has mounted an enormously vigorous challenge to Palin, going so far as to overthrow their own long held political positions on such issues as women’s rights and abortion in order to attack her. The smear about Palin’s child actually being her daughter’s is largely laid to rest – except for those who now insist that Governor Palin was wearing a “fat suit” to fake the pregnancy pictures we saw on various websites.

Those people are beyond hope. But it is amazing how smoothly the left transitioned from that theme to other smears. Now the battle cry is that she is some kind of extremist for belonging to an organization called the Alaska Independence Party. Marc Ambinder debunks that attack quite cleanly by pointing out that the AIP is an accepted part of the Alaskan political landscape and is hardly an “extremist” organization anyway.

Through it all, Sarah Palin has maintained her composure, trying to sheild her daughter while going on with the mission at hand – trying to get John McCain elected president. She has handled this very personal yet public situation extremely well.

Unless the left has something more damaging than what they’ve come up with so far, Palin will be on the ticket in November. Most of what they present as disqualifying evidence is so twisted with bias and outright falsehoods that they are easily tossed aside.

McCain has done his best to run interference for his running mate while Barack Obama has made the statement that the American people should understand that what is going on in the Palin household is private and should have no impact on the presidential race. While this is welcome from Mr. Obama, perhaps a statement asking his supporters to cease and desist in their rancid smear attacks on Palin might also have been a nice gesture.

The anticipation of Palin’s speech is already building here and by tomorrow night, the convention should be more than primed to hear her speak. I predict that the Excel Center roof will have trouble staying on during her address.

Posted at 10:02 AM | Email | Permalink

Sarah Palin and the narcissistic wounds of the Left

By James Lewis

Former Democrat national chairman Don Fowler admitted to ABC News that he rejoiced at the prospect of Hurricane Gustav hitting New Orleans during the Republican National Convention.

“The hurricane’s going to hit New Orleans about the time they (the GOP) start. The timing is — at least it appears now that it’ll be there Monday. That just demonstrates that God’s on our side. [Laughter] Everything’s cool.” 

 

In customary Leftist fashion, Fowler half-way apologized when he was caught on tape.

 

“If this offended anybody, I personally apologize,” Fowler told ABC News. “It was a mistake, and it was a satirical statement made in jest. And one that I clearly don’t believe … One doesn’t anticipate that one’s private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase,” said Fowler. “But that’s the nature of what we’re dealing with.”

 

“If this offended anybody?”  I wonder if a million people fleeing New Orleans felt offended. But it wasn’t Don Fowler’s fault, you see. It was the fault of “some right-wing nutcase” who caught him saying it on videotape.

 

You see, Senator O is entitled to the presidency. You may not think so, but millions of Leftists do. He’s black, he’s cool, he makes the Left drool. As the fringe likes to say, “It’s only justice.” Think about that word “justice” and try filling in “revenge.”  “Social justice” means the revenge of the poor against the rich, of the radical women against the men who’ve stood them up and hurt their feelings all their lives, and the revenge of black people finally doin’ down the whites — as Jeremiah Wright makes so abundantly clear.

 

“Social justice” is the revenge of the psychologically oppressed against people who look happier and more satisfied with their lives.

 

The Left always counts its presidential chickens before they’re hatched. They did it with Algore, they did it with Kerry. They think they have victory in their grasp, and when reality says otherwise they feel robbed and betrayed. They have to find dark plots and conspiracies to explain the impossible; the Supreme Court was corrupt in stopping the Al Gore assault on the election rules in Florida. Ohio’s voting machines were hacked to give George W. Bush his win there. Today, Algore is still bulking up with rage, eight years after Florida. Kerry still thinks he was “swiftboated”  — when his Swiftboat chain of command finally got its chance to tell the truth. Rapper P. Diddy was on YouTube yesterday going “Alaska? Alaska?” and “McCain, you’re getting the *** out of town.”   

 

It’s the gangster theory of electoral democracy. They’re all counting on victory.  It’s theirs already. Like the Obama campaign keeps telling us, the election is just a formality. We have a new president, and his name starts with an O.

 

The Left is entitled to power, because in their own eyes they have Truth and Morality on their side. They are Mahatma Gandhi, they are Dr. King, they are the vanguard of the marching proletariat. It’s not just Big O who has the incomprehensible egomania. His inner circle and vast numbers of his supporters do, too. Entitlement, grandiosity, narcissism: In psychiatric thinking they all suffer from secret feelings of inferiority, narcissistic wounds to their self-esteem. Every time they lose, those nagging feelings come up again. So they are always overcompensating, trying to bully reality into the shape they need.

 

So shrewd old McCain picks Sarah Palin for Veep, and steps on the Obama victory with devastating timing, the day after the launch. No big bounce in the polls for O.  Within hours the Left feels cheated and betrayed. Why? Because they are entitled to victory. Because they have been in a rage for the last eight years and can just feel that aching need for revenge. Because Governor Palin is a traitor to her gender, in their eyes, just as Justice Thomas is a traitor to his race. This is the language of the Klu Klux Klan and the Nazis, of course; “race traitor” was their name for whites who supported civil rights for blacks. But it’s ok to be a racist if you’re a liberal. In fact you are supposed to be a racist, a sexist, and a heterophobe: It’s practically mandatory to take on all the sins of racial fascism as long as you flip the targets.

 

What’s more, Sarah Palin is pretty, well-spoken, smart, athletic, normal and middle aged. She made it to the governorship of Alaska on her own, bringing down corrupt Republicans on the way. But the Left has the exclusive rights to all the good-looking young women (or men) in Hollywood. You may think that’s mad, but they secretly really believe it. Madonna told the world that O is just like Gandhi. You may think that’s funny or annoying, but millions of her Obot fans fall for it. They are emotionally immature, to say it nicely.

 

Senator O’s campaign started with an attack on Sarah Palin, but caught itself fast and backed off. Attacking the lady without careful planning would have been disastrous. Instead, unattributed rumors are circulating in the Leftosphere: Palin’s Down Syndrome baby wasn’t really hers, there is secret corruption in her past, and more. These wild, vicious slanders are trotted out mainly to satisfy the emotional needs of their authors. The nasty, vicious quality is a signal of irrational, narcissistic rage.

 

The saner Left, including the O campaign, is trotting out lines of more plausible attack: Inexperience? Heart-beat from the presidency? Can she be intimidated like Dan Quayle, who was media-whipped to the point of stuttering incoherence? “Fix and destroy” is the old Alinsky rule.  The attack-hound media will try its damndest over the next two months.

Governor Palin can probably handle it, but had better bring along that big-game hunting rifle to the campaign. There are Leftie grizzlies out there waiting to ambush her, regardless of her gender.

 

Suddenly the Left cares about competence in a woman. Hillary never needed it. Eight years as First Lady qualified her to be Senator from New York. Obama never needed to show foreign policy experience; he could get away with amazing gaffes.

 

For the moment all the attention is off Obama and McCain. McCain, they thought, would be an easy target. A normally sane leftist friend of mine literally screeched “Old! Old! Old!” about John McCain, like an enraged chimp doing a threat display. If he’d had any bushes within reach he would have pulled off the branches and brandished them, or thrown them around in his personal fireworks display. “Old!” was going to be the line of attack on McCain, ageist prejudice considerations be damned. The Left can be as ageist as it wants, because they have the higher morality, you see. They were sure it would work. They earned the right to have it to work after all these years of impotent rage.

 

This is going to be tough election for the Left, barring suprises. They don’t handle the uncertainties of a neck-and-neck race very well. They have too much of their sizable emotional needs riding on the outcome. That’s why they looked forward to Hurricane Gustav drowning New Orleans again.

 

Rarely has the inner life of the Left been so exposed to public view. Look for a lot of uncontrollable rage if the McCain/Palin ticket sweeps to victory.

 

I don’t enjoy watching people go Daffy Duck-style mad with rage — but given the track record, who deserves it more than our buds on the Left? But watch your step, or they’ll chew up your nice new carpet.

 

James Lewis blogs at dangeroustimes.wordpress.com

Mrs. Palin Goes to Washington

By Clarice Feldman

I’m a sucker for Frank Capra movies, movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington “which underscore the difference an honest person dedicated to the common weal can make to his community and his country. While today the stories may seem dated and too black and white a depiction of good and evil, they resonate still in American hearts even after decades of public viewing.

We are cock-eyed optimists at heart. And we have been forever in love with the common man (or woman) who loves his family, his God and his neighbors enough to work hard to make their lives rich and full and better than they are.

 

I do not think I am alone in my love of these stories. And I think that’s why the selection of  Governor Sarah Palin as Senator McCain’s running mate has struck such a powerful nerve among the electorate. She is not a part of any ruling elite. She comes from no moneyed family. Her family and its strengths and problems are familiar to us all. She’s smart, courageous, honest and personable.

 

What is amazing to me is that it is so rare for such a fine, brave, likeable candidate as Mrs. Palin to make it so far. We didn’t always have only very rich people or children of politicians running for higher office. Harry Truman, one of my favorite presidents, for one, was a failed haberdasher.  I have been trying to figure out when and why we developed an almost iron clad rule that presidential and vice presidential candidates had to fit a certain template  — come from rich and/or politically prominent families, have Ivy League degrees and/ or have spent years in the House or Senate.

 

Personally, I blame it on the myth of Camelot. The JFK family was rich, politically prominent, young and the darlings of an adoring press. Of course, that narrative about them was very one-sided, not terribly accurate, and a tribute to their ability to manipulate media coverage. But it seems to me that ever since, anyone running for president or vice-president needed to have very substantial public recognition often because of the prominence of their family or long service in Congress and lots of  money-inherited, donated or contributed.  Maybe it’s the polished, well-attired and groomed  visage we’d grown to consider an essential  attribute for those positions.

 

We’ve paid dearly for the notion that only a small cadre of Americans are among those fit to serve. For one thing, we have a boringly similar field from which to choose — people increasingly out of touch with their countrymen and loath to risking anything to advance principled positions. It has made our campaigns tediously predictable and our voters understandably cynical and disengaged.

 

Every primary season we see the candidates appealing to the outer reaches of their parties, and then swing rapidly to the center once they’ve sewn up the nominations. What we call “debates” are laughably similar year after year: The candidates pretending it’s possible to square their primary positions with their utterly inconsistent stands in the general election and memorizing carefully parsed tip toes through those minefields. The increasingly expensive ad campaigns are filled with the candidate’s losing primary opponents’ criticisms of him, now strikingly and embarrassingly in contrast to their fulsome praise and endorsements in the general election. The positions they are running for require the exercise of executive authority and yet most of these candidates absolutely lack authenticity.

 

Finally, there is the press. I doubt if many are still alive who recall the legendary old Kennedy era Georgetown dinners where press and President mingled easily, though I suspect the dinners are more scintillating and glorious in recollection than they were in real terms. Even foie gras and champagne is poor pay for having sold themselves so utterly to a White House which played the press like violins.

 

Still, many in the press corps dream of days like that again, so when someone like Palin is named, the dream is scotched for sure. Downing moose burgers and beer is not quite how they see themselves spending idle Saturday nights in D.C. In fact, having spent so much time cultivating the present ponce parade in the Senate and House, their dismay at the selection of a governor — especially one so far from the Beltway, which increasingly has itself taken on the flavor of the old Court of the Sun King where adherence to the constantly changing meaningless customary externalities meant far more than talent and brains — is understandable if not ridiculous.

 

In “Mr. Smith “the press regarded the hero as a bumpkin, too, and believed he had no business in the hallowed precincts of Capitol Hill as to which they regarded themselves as experts. But Mr. Smith, the naïve, good hearted, honest and courageous man won in the end, and the oh-so-sophisticated press looked like fools, having covered for the corrupt liars they knew very well. The press has largely turned up its nose at Governor Palin for much the same reason, and is as wrong in real life as they were in the movie.

 

I love Sarah Palin. I wish her well. She reaffirms after decades of ignoring what is in the heart of every true American: We can indeed move mountains if we have the will to do so, and the person best able to lead us to do that can come from every station of life and every background.

 

Clarice Feldman is a retired attorney in Washington, DC